Drew Barrymore Opens Up About Her "Worst Nightmare" Divorce

Celebrity divorces are often shrouded in secrecy, non-disclosure agreements and requests for “privacy during this difficult time.”

In a moment of brutal honesty, Drew Barrymore has opened up about her 2016 divorce from Will Kopelman, which she’s described as “her worst nightmare.”

Speaking to marie claire editor Nicky Briger on the Finding Fearless podcast, Barrymore admitted, “I was really broken. Divorce is the death of a dream. I lost 40 pounds [18 kilograms] of weight.”

Will Kopelman and Drew Barrymore in 2015

Getty

Following her split with Kopelman after three years of marriage and two kids [Olive, 6, and Frankie, 5], Barrymore says she felt like a failure. “When you break up with somebody, you’re like, ‘Yeah that didn’t work.’ When you get divorced, you’re like, ‘I’m the biggest failure.’ It’s so shameful and hard to actually go through that, even privately,” she said on Chelsea Handler’s Netflix show in 2017.

Reflecting once more on that painful time in her life, Barrymore told marie claire that going back to work was her saviour. “I had to go back to work,” she said, talking about the reason she signed on to play a zombie-real-estate-agent on Santa Clarita Diet. “This project came along. Sometimes what you think is the worst timing ever is actually the best blessing. So be open.”

Barrymore’s advice for getting through the dark times is to find your tribe. “I have a long standing history with my girlfriends. They are my original family,” she revealed. “You cannot accomplish anything by yourself. It takes this village.”

Alley PascoeAlley Pascoe is marie claire’s Acting Features Editor and resident country music fan. She spends her days interviewing inspirational women, including career highlights Kasey Chambers, Serena Williams and Julia Roberts (for seven minutes on the phone).